Coevolution of lexicon and syntax from a simulation perspective

Whether simple syntax (in the form of simple word order) can emerge during the emergence of lexicon is studied from a simulation perspective; a multiagent computational model is adopted to trace a lexicon-syntax coevolution through iterative communications. Several factors that may affect this self-organizing process are discussed. An indirect meaning transference is simulated to study the effect of nonlinguistic information in listener’s comprehension. Besides the theoretical and empirical argumentations, this computational model, following the Emergentism, demonstrates an adaptation of syntax from some domain-general abilities, which provides an argumentation against the Innatism. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Complexity 10: 50–62, 2005